Clarendon Hills team guaranteed it would not come home from the Little League World Series without a victory by defeating the Mid-Atlantic Region/Pennsylvania State champion 3-2 Saturday in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
An estimated 20,000 people were in attendance, many to support the team from their home state.
The pressure was on both teams, as losses in the opening round meant Saturday’s game was an elimination contest in the double-elimination tournament.
Clarendon Hills scored all three of its runs in the bottom of the third inning. Pennsylvania came back with two runs in the top of the fourth, but Brody Herold, who pitched the entire game for Clarendon Hills, shut the door the rest of the way.
“It was a great effort from Brody, he was smart with his pitches and threw strikes,” Clarendon Hills manager Brian Herold said of his son. “But our defense was just outstanding, and that was so important. The key for Brody was to go out there and throw strikes, but you need your defense to makes plays behind you.”
Herold said scoring first was a big plus for Clarendon Hills.
“We know we play our best when we’re ahead, and it put Brody at ease with a lead,” he said.
Pennsylvania made things especially interesting in the top of the sixth when it used a walk, sacrifice bunt and fly ball to get a runner to third base with two outs.
However, Herold recorded his third strike out of the game to clinch the win for his team. He gave up six hits and walked two in his six innings of work
Clarendon Hills scored its three runs in the third when Luca Striltschuk and Hudson Lauerman both got base hits to start the inning. The first run of the game came on a wild pitch, before Herold came though with a two-out, RBI single.
Courtesy runner Henry McMahon then scored on a base hit by Matthew Kalish. McMahon actually scored twice in the inning, as he also was a courtesy runner for catcher Lauerman.
An RBI-double by Aiden Mercer, who Herold struck out to end the game, brought home Pennsylvania’s first run in the top of the fourth. Mercer then scored on a two-out bloop hit.
Clarendon Hills found itself in the elimination bracket by virtue of a 16-1 loss Wednesday to the Mountain Region and Nevada State champion from Las Vegas, which improved to 2-0 Saturday with a 5-3 win over the Northwest Region champs from Washington.
The Mid-Atlantis Region/Pennsylvania State champs from Upper Uwchlan Township lost its opening-round game to the Midwest Region winners from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 2-0.
Clarendon Hills is the 16th team from Illinois to play in the Little League World Series, including a 2024 appearance by Hinsdale, which went 0-2. No Illinois team has won the World Series.
A scheduled watch party in downtown Clarendon Hills Saturday was rained out, after an estimated 200 people turned out for Wednesday’s first game in support of the local team.
Another watch party is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday at Prospect and Park avenues. The game will be broadcast on ABC.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
